Women’s Fashion Consumption in Saudi Arabia

This study investigates the influence of the sociocultural factors affecting the fashion and clothing consumption of Saudi women. It is a multidisciplinary study that combines fashion and consumer behaviour approaches in order to define and explain the collective sociocultural norms that underlie the patterns of women’s fashion and clothing consumption in Saudi Arabia. It applies a mixed-method approach as a strategy for data collection, with primary data gathered through observation, a face-to-face questionnaire completed by 654 respondents and interviews with local retailers and experts in the fashion market. The analysis of the empirical data revealed significant findings related to consumption patterns and the characteristics of the local market. It identified that there are two main systems that define fashion consumption in female Saudi society. Each system operates in a different social setting (public and female-only social settings) that requires communicating or establishing a specific value or a set of values to meet social expectations. The research findings also indicate the structure of the market and its operational system used to respond to consumer demands. In the light of these findings, theoretical models were developed to define the particularities of fashion consumption in Saudi Arabia as outcomes of this study. This study could have a substantial influence in academia as it provides a broader insight into fashion consumption behaviour in Saudi Arabia compared to that available in the existing literature. It could also help retailers and investors to understand the particularities of Saudi women’s fashion consumption in more depth. This understanding could be applied to develop strategies to meet Saudi women’s fashion demands.Saudi Cultural Burea

Trends in incidence and prognosis in female breast cancer since 1955 : registry-based studies in south-east Netherlands

Indirect evidence forms the basis of our knowledge of the natural history of human breast cancer. It is assumed that breast cancer starts by subtle molecular changes within a cell, called the induction phase, leading to the creation of a malignant cell. This phase is followed by multiplication and progressive growth of the cancer cell, most often leading to disseminated disease and to the death of the patient. From clinical observation it can be concluded that the range in growth rates of breast cancer is wide, and probably also the moment and pattern of metastatic dissemination. Some cancers disseminate early, but others may disseminate late or not at all. From serial mammographies it appeared that growth rates, expressed as tumour volume doubling times, ranged from about two months to several years."" The site of metastasis is also highly variable, as well as the response to therapy. Together, this illustrates the heterogeneity of breast cancer

Genome-wide Genotype Imputation-Aspects of Quality, Performance and Practical Implementation

Finding a relation between a particular phenotype and genotype is one of the central themes in medical genetics. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms are easily assessable markers allowing genome wide association (GWA) studies and meta-analysis. Hundreds of such analyses were performed in the last decades. Even though several tools for such analyses are available, an efficient SNP-data transformation tool was tool was necessary. We developed a data management tool fcGENE which allows us easy transformation of genetic data into different formats required by different GWA tools. Genotype imputation which is a common technique in GWA, allows us to study the relationship of a phenotype at markers that are missing and even at completely un-typed markers. Moreover this technique helps us to infer both common and rare variants that are not directly typed. We studied different aspects of the imputation processes especially focussing on its accuracy. More specifically, our focus lied on the impact of pre-imputation filtering on the accuracy of imputation results. To measure the imputation accuracy, we defined two new statistical sores, which allowed us the comparison between imputed and true genotypes directly. Our direct comparison between the true and imputed genotypes showed that strict quality filtering of SNPs prior to imputation process may be detrimental. We further studied the impact of differently selected reference panels from publicly available projects like HapMap and 1000 genome projects on the imputation quality. More specifically, we analysed the relationship between genetic distance of the reference and the resulting imputation quality. For this purpose, we considered different summary statistics of population differentiation (e.g. Reich’s , Nei’s and other modified scores) between the study data set and the reference panel used in imputation processes. In the third analysis, we compared two basic trends of using reference panels in imputation process: (1) use of genetically best-matched reference panel, and (2) use of an admixed reference panel that allows the use of individual reference panel from all possible type of populations, and let the software itself select the optimal references in a piece-wise manner or as complete sequences of SNPs for each individual separately. We have analysed in detail the performance of different imputation software and also the accuracy of the imputation processes in both cases. We found that the current trend of using software with admixed reference panel in all cases is not always the best strategy. Prior to imputation process, phasing of study data sets by using an external reference panel is also a common trend especially when it comes to the imputation of large datasets. We studied the performance of different imputation frameworks with or without pre-phasing. It turned out that pre-phasing clearly reduces the imputation quality for medium-sized data sets.:Table of Contents List of Tables IV List of Figures V 1 Overview of the Thesis 1 1.1 Abstract 1 1.2 Outlines 4 2 Introduction 5 2.1 Basics of genetics 5 2.1.1 Phenotype, genotype and haplotype 5 2.1.2 Hardy-Weinberg law 6 2.1.3 Linkage disequilibrium 6 2.1.4 Genome-wide association analysis 7 2.2 Phasing of Genotypes 7 2.3 Genotype imputation 8 2.3.1 Tools for Imputing genotype data 9 2.3.2 Reference panels 9 3 Results 11 3.1 Detailed Abstracts 11 3.1.1 First Research Paper 11 3.1.2 Second Research Paper 14 3.1.3 Third Research Paper 17 3.1.4 Fourth Research Paper 19 3.2 Discussion and Conclusion 22 4 Published Articles 27 4.1 First Research Paper 27 4.1.1 Supplementary Information 34 4.2 Second Research Paper 51 4.2.1 Supplementary Information 62 4.3 Third Research Paper 69 4.3.1 Supplementary Information 85 4.4 Fourth Research Paper 97 4.4.1 Supplementary Information 109 5 Zusammenfassung der Arbeit 117 6 Bibliography 120 7 Eigene Publikationen 124 8 Darstellung des eigenen Beitrags 125 8.1 First Research Paper 125 8.2 Second Research Paper 126 8.3 Third Research Paper 127 8.4 Fourth Research Paper 128 9 Erklärung über die eigenständige Abfassung der Arbeit 129 10 Danksagung 130 11 Curriculum Vitae 131 List of Tables IV List of Figures V 1 Overview of the Thesis 1 1.1 Abstract 1 1.2 Outlines 4 2 Introduction 5 2.1 Basics of genetics 5 2.1.1 Phenotype, genotype and haplotype 5 2.1.2 Hardy-Weinberg law 6 2.1.3 Linkage disequilibrium 6 2.1.4 Genome-wide association analysis 7 2.2 Phasing of Genotypes 7 2.3 Genotype imputation 8 2.3.1 Tools for Imputing genotype data 8 2.3.2 Reference panels 8 3 Results 8 3.1 Detailed Abstracts 8 3.1.1 First Research Paper 8 3.1.2 Second Research Paper 8 3.1.3 Third Research Paper 8 3.1.4 Fourth Research Paper 8 3.2 Discussion and Conclusion 8 4 Published Articles 8 4.1 First Research Paper 8 4.1.1 Supplementary Information 8 4.2 Second Research Paper 8 4.2.1 Supplementary Information 8 4.3 Third Research Paper 8 4.3.1 Supplementary Information 8 4.4 Fourth Research Paper 8 4.4.1 Supplementary Information 8 5 Zusammenfassung der Arbeit 8 6 Bibliography 8 7 Eigene Publikationen 8 8 Erklärung über die eigenständige Abfassung der Arbeit 8 9 Danksagung 8 10 Curriculum Vitae

Factors influencing the usage of mobile money services in Ghana

The ambiguity and convenience of mobile phones has brought about new values and opportunities that no one foresaw in the delivery of financial services. It has brought about significant changes and sustainable growth as well as economic opportunities for the unbanked population and the emerging countries. According to the financial inclusion insights (FII), digital bank account in Ghana is more common than any other FII country in Africa including Kenya and Tanzania. Nevertheless, mobile money has not reach same penetration as that of their counterpart in Kenya and Tanzania. Mobile money in Ghana has been remittance/fund transfer focused, limiting the use of it for other financial transactions such as savings and payments of goods and services. The main objective of the research is to investigate the critical factors influencing the full adoption of mobile money platform and its auxiliary services in Ghana by adopting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. The model predicted that performance expectancy (PE) and social influence (SI) significantly affect behavioural intention to use mobile money in Ghana. The study applied both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Questionnaires and interviews were used as primary data and then analysed using SPSS. The findings revealed that performance expectancy, social influence, and the fact that Ghana is not a cashless economy remain the major factors limiting m-money usage in Ghana. Ghanaian consumers however are willing to use m-money but there exist significant impediments towards the adoption and use of m-money in Ghana

Icy Satellite Tectonic, Geodynamic and Mass Wasting Surface Features: Constraints on Interior Processes and Evolution

Empirical data collected from mapping campaigns combined with modeling of geologic processes improves our understanding of planetary geology. Many planet- or satellite-scale processes cannot be reproduced in labs, thus analyzing surface features provides insights to confirm, discount, or improve models. I present the methods used to map and characterize the morphometry of several types of geologic features found on three icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, and the resulting data. Trends in the data provide insight into feature formation, and to both surface and interior processes occurring in icy satellites. Topics include: i) linear features and despinning stresses on Iapetus, ii) long-runout landslides and friction reduction on Iapetus, iii) pits, uplifts, and small chaos regions on Europa and what they reveal about ice shell thickness, iv) relaxed impact craters and the thermal history of Ganymede, and v) the size-velocity distribution of ejecta fragments from large cratering events on Europa and Ganymede

Life cycle assessment synthesis of the carbon footprint of Arabica coffee: Case study of Brazil and Vietnam conventional and sustainable coffee production and export to the United Kingdom

Over 9.5 billion kg of coffee is produced annually and demand is expected to triple by 2050. Hence, the identification and quantification of the greenhouse gas emission footprint of coffee is essential if it is to become a more sustainable crop. We have produced a detailed life cycle assessment of the carbon equivalent footprint of coffee produced in Brazil and Vietnam and exported to the United Kingdom. The average carbon footprint of Arabica coffee from both countries was calculated as 15.33 (±0.72) kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per 1 kg of green coffee (kg CO2e kg−1 ) for conventional coffee production and 3.51 (±0.13) kg CO2e kg−1 for sustainable coffee production. The 77% reduction in carbon footprint for sustainable coffee production in comparison to conventional production was due to exportation of coffee beans via cargo ship rather than freight flight and the reduction of agrochemical inputs. Based on our results, further reductions could be made through optimal use of agrochemicals; reduced packaging; more efficient water heating; renewable energy use; roasting beans before exportation; and carbon offsetting. Applying these recommendations correctly through certification schemes could mitigate other environmental impacts of coffee cultivation